What Are The Richest and Poorest States in America? — Dollars and Sense

The average income of the American family is down for the second year in a row, with households earning nearly eight percent less than what they did in 2007 prior to having their financial throats cut by a downtrodden economy.

Recent data from the US Census Bureau paints a bleak portrait of the American Dream with median household income levels ranging from $36,919 in the state of Mississippi to $70,004 in Maryland. Incidentally, those states have remained the low and high end of the spectrum since before the fallout of the recession.

Over the course of the last couple of years, Vermont is the only state to have experienced any level of increase in its median income, while some of the wealthiest states showed significant declines. Hawaii, for example, has sunk more than $3,000 since 2010.

Health insurance improved in 37 states. However, even in poor states where coverage improved, it was minimal, while four of the wealthiest states reported a population of more than 90 percent insured.

Interestingly, shaky economies are apparently not indicative to unemployment, with five of the most destitute states reporting unemployment rates lower than the 8.9 percent national average. For example, Oklahoma’s unemployment is at 6.2 percent.

The richest and the poorest states were calculated using data detailing national figures on household incomes, poverty and health insurance.